Violent conflicts related to tribal-political differences have characterised the Kenyan society since the declaration of multi-party democracy in 1991. The 2007/8 post-election violence (PEV) in particular resulted in the displacement of many Kenyans. Scattering of families saw some children losing months or years of schooling with others permanently excluded from education, while the participation and achievement of those arriving in school was characterised by complex needs and experiences. This PhD study explored pupil and teacher perceptions of the learning and development needs of conflict-affected children in one primary school in Kenya. In particular, this study sought to understand how school leadership practice was developed and leadership roles negotiated, in order to meet pupils’ needs and develop an inclusive ethos. The study addressed the connection between leadership, inclusion and post-conflict education. A single intrinsic case study with aspects of ethnography was undertaken adopting an interpretive approach. Sixteen pupils (9–12 year-olds) shared their views of their learning and development needs through two activities. The headteacher, deputy, senior teacher and six teachers were interviewed (n=9) and asked to reflect on the challenges they experienced in addressing pupils’ needs. Their perceptions of the roles for school leadership were sought, and observations of their everyday practices were conducted in classrooms, assemblies and school ceremonies. Data from these interviews, observations, texts-on-walls, and pupils’ activities were thematically analysed. The participants identified the following as pupils’ learning and development needs: access to, acceptance in, and predictability of their new school; ‘peer-connectedness’, social development, and social inclusion. Children emerged as active agents in their own education, combating adversity through supportive peer relationships. Eurocentric and African perspectives on leadership, and Davies’ (2004) work on education and post-conflict reconstruction were particularly useful in making-sense of how leadership unfolded in practice. Three areas of educational reconstruction in particular were identified as significantly underpinning leadership roles: i) reconstruction of leadership structures allowed shared leadership which facilitated the meeting of pupils’ needs at different levels; ii) reconstruction of relationships targeted repairing children’s emotional, social and moral distortion, and iii) reconstruction of learning cultures encouraged collaborative learning initiatives that improved academic standards. The study found that the connection between school leadership and inclusion in post-conflict schools can be understood along three themes. The first is ‘post-conflict conflict’. I have used this term to reflect that the cessation of overt tribal violence, coupled with movement of pupils into this new settlement ushered in a new phase of conflict for pupils, teachers, schools and their communities. Schooling was characterised by poverty, fragmented/mobile families, distorted social values associated with post-election atrocities, alongside, structural barriers linked to government and sponsor-related needs. Second, ‘connectedness’: while societal fragmentation produced divisions, fear and suspicion of ‘others’, reversing the situation required school leadership to foster social connectedness. Finally, ‘Africanised school leadership’: fostering connectedness required enlisting communal responsibility and mutuality in undertaking emerging roles, thus, employing aspects of local indigenous heritage. The study contributes to knowledge in the emerging field of educational leadership in post-conflict settings (Clarke and O’Donoghue, 2013) whilst addressing the less investigated connection between teachers, leadership and inclusive education (Edmund and Macmillan, 2010), particularly in post-conflict circumstances. The research is timely in informing leadership programs that the government of Kenya is advancing e.g. in decentralising decision-making (MOE, 2012b/c) and, re-alignment to its obligations in the IDP Protocol of the Great Lakes Pact (Kigozi, 2014). Recommendations are made for policy, practice and further research. The conclusion to my study argues for a reconceptualisation of school leadership practice beyond single-leader paradigms, whilst revisiting prioritisation of roles for school leadership, especially, towards fostering inclusiveness in the conflict-prone Kenyan society.

This mini-dissertation relates to the post-conflict period in the DRC, Rwanda and Sierra Leone, juxtaposing the rights-based and interest-based approaches to conflict management and resolution. The study is premised on the lack of significant collaboration between the two approaches, notwithstanding the already existing collaboration. The rights-based approach posits that there exist some crimes of international dimension that should not be left unprosecuted for whatever reason. The approach sees the compliance with international norms on the respect of human rights as more important than coming to a final resolution of conflict. This paradigm therefore postulates that transgressors of international norms cannot take part in peace agreements and must be held individually responsible for the atrocities they have committed. The approach considers justice as a prerequisite to peace. The interest-based approach frowns at the idea of laying blame on persons as being responsible for committing horrendous breaches and rather seeks to be neutral and not blaming any party. The approach encourages more dialogue and cooperation between the two parties which could culminate in a settled agreement. The approach gives more room to inclusiveness, participation and conflict resolution. Peace here is accepted to be a conditio sine qua non to justice and the resolution of conflict thereafter. As a result of this juxtaposition of approaches, proponents of the two approaches have been perpetually suspicious of each other’s approach. This impasse has therefore retarded collaboration in the two paradigms to a sufficient degree. This study therefore argues for a third stand, which is the synergy of the approaches to collaborate to a degree which will enhance sustainability in peace agreements to guarantee durable and long lasting peace in the DRC, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. This third stand depicts that integrating the approaches, insights and knowledge from one approach strengthen and benefit the other. Conflict resolvers will understand how rights denial have the potential of igniting conflict, and human rights actors will enhance their negotiation skills in conflict resolution especially in areas where the access to rebel occupied zones and even to political prisoners is difficult. Finally, the study has also depicted how traditional African methods and concepts like Gacaca and Ubuntu can be enhanced within the broad usage of the two paradigms and not as competitive paradigms. Gacaca is a traditional mechanism in Rwanda whose primordial aim is the settlement and reconciliation of the victim with his perpetrators. Ubuntu seeks to reiterate the connectivity existing between Africans. Conflicts will not exist if we all love one another due to our connectivity. ‘We’ is given more consideration than ‘I’. This is the understanding from the perspective of Ubuntu. Copyright / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Centre for Human Rights / unrestricted

During the last decades, international organisations have worked hard to implement a gender awareness in their peace- and development programs. Many organizations, however, fail to include an awareness of masculinity construction, and gender has become synonymous with women. This is despite the fact that throughout history, key actors in armed conflicts have been men. Understanding how masculinity is constructed in relation to armed-conflicts can therefore be beneficial to achieve a lasting peace. Thus, the aim of this thesis is to examine how masculinity norms are expressed among Namibians after the Namibian war of independence, and how these norms have developed during the post-war era. By conducting a mixed-method of content and discourse analysis, this study investigates how the hegemonic masculinity is constructed by the citizens of Namibia through the “letters to the editor”-section in the national newspaper The Namibian. All letters published during 1991, 1992, 2002 and 2003 were analysed to achieve an understanding of how the masculinity norms had developed. The study found that the hegemonic masculinity in the earlier years consisted of a strong and honourable man, with a high education and the possibility to independently take care of his family. The hegemonic masculinity had in the later years developed into a more caring and compassionate man, who supported his working wife.  The study also found that some aspects of the hegemonic masculinity had remained the same, such as heterosexuality and monogamy. The study encourages further research on the development of masculinity norms in a post-conflict setting, and how these norms may hinder or encourage a lasting peace.

Somalia has recently come out of a two decade long civil war and is currently in a post-war and rebuilding phase. The national health system, largely crippled during years of conflict, is faced with a significant maternal mortality ratio and the debilitating effects of a high fertility rate. To combat these issues, the new Somali government is working toward creating a strong national health system that addresses some of these key indicators. With a lack of human resources in healthcare and the need for better reproductive health services, the need to invest in educating a new generation of health service professionals is evident. To address this gap in education, many educational institutions with health science faculties have opened in the last decade but the quality and accuracy of their curricula has yet to be examined. My thesis addresses this gap in knowledge. Through a multi-methods study that included reviewing curricula and curricular materials, conducting key informant interviews, and facilitating focus group discussions, I was able to learn about the quality and comprehensiveness of reproductive health topics in health service professionals‟ education and training. Religion, culture, logistical issues, and lack of oversight shape the way reproductive health is taught to health students. This study provides an important foundation to help inform key stakeholders working to improve the Somali health system.

This dissertation examines the factors that shape political participation and perceptions about political choice during and after conflict. Societies that experience civil war, and particularly ethnic civil war, are vulnerable to the “conflict trap,” meaning that they are likely to experience second or third wars based on tensions exacerbated by conflict. Existing literature on group mobilization in post-conflict societies and related scholarship predicts that factors like ethnic identity, income, and education best explain participation in political violence and likelihood of recurrence of civil war. However, countries often defy these predictors, and gaps remain in our understanding of how citizens participate in politics during conflict. This dissertation therefore seeks to answer the question: What explains citizens’ choices about political participation as they experience the turmoil conflict and post-conflict periods? To answer this question, this study draws upon the case of Burundi, a country that has hovered between post-conflict and conflict statuses since the conclusion of its recent civil war. I conduct qualitative analysis of 113 in-depth interviews collected across four provinces in Burundi, examining the variety of choices made in relation to political participation both during and after the war. I find that citizens’ choices about political participation are fluid, and heavily contingent upon their interpersonal connections, with specific contributions in three main areas. First, rebel and political groups’ identities hinge upon the values associated with narratives they use to garner legitimacy, more so than the division itself (be it political, ethnic, or otherwise). Second, interactions that take place between generations and within key social networks heavily influence patterns of political participation. These interactions explain the wide array of relationships to politics observed within subgroups (like youth and women), and provide a better understanding of how they take action. Last, in the post-conflict era, non-state actors influence the potential for conflict, simultaneously creating space for wider political participation and challenging state actors still interested in maintaining legitimacy. These findings challenge currently weak predictors of cyclical violence and the assumed mechanisms driving them, highlighting the prominence of social ties and roles that shape mobilization and political choice.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Political Science) in the Department of History at the University Of Zululand, South Africa, 2015 / Sub-Saharan Africa has been faced with an increase in levels of intra-state armed conflict since the last century. Intra-state conflicts have not only shown to be complex by their very nature, but have also shown numerous challenges in finding a solution that could be applied in an effective manner to bring about a guaranteed lasting solution. It is on this basis that interest and attention has been given to the transitional processes from conflict to peace. The conflict transformational process of two dissimilar countries, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Republic of South Africa form a case study for understanding this quagmire. The transitional negotiations of the DRC from 2003–2006 and that of South Africa from 1991–1994 are the cases in point. The major issues for conflict resolution therefore includes understanding transitional negotiations as a vital process that can make or mar lasting peace in conflict prone areas. This research questions includes; Does citizen participation in transitional negotiations impact on sustainable peace in post- conflict societies? Given the vested interests and the often conflicting interests of various citizen groupings, does citizen participation create stability in the negotiation process for the purpose of creating a sustainable peace, or does it create a greater possibility of non-agreement and regression into conflict? Is it possible to obtain peace in countries that are complex political emergencies where elite interests are outweighing and civil liberties and interests are compromised? How do mediators overcome the problem of self-serving elites in transitional negotiations? Using the post-conflict DRC and South Africa as case studies and for comparative analysis, how can the differences in their outcomes be aggregated? This study is a mix of explanatory and exploratory research. Qualitative methods were used in the research. An expert sampling technique was adopted to conduct interviews in order to represent the different perspectives and theories of the outbreak of conflicts and violence. The principal theories that the study was based on are the Protracted Social Conflict Theory and the Transformative Cosmopolitan Theory. The study hypothetically argues that the paucity of or inclusion of citizens in transitional negotiations can either lead to sustainable peace in post-conflict societies or regress to a conflict stricken society. It also gauged the relations between the state and civil society organizations in working with citizens in order to avoid local conflicts that can interrupt negotiation processes. It expounds on the relationship between the interests of the political elites and the interests of the citizens. This study has determined that the lack of citizen participation in transitional negotiations does impact negatively on sustainable peace in post-conflict societies. In both case studies, it was shown that conflict has continued at the local level. The study has shown further that an inclusive approach to negotiations as well as peace building in post-conflict societies can be beneficial to the state, as there would be sustainable peace. Where mediators have been unable to balance the interests of the self- serving elites and needs of society, the failure has led to high intensity conflicts such as the local conflicts in the DRC becoming independent of the national level, thus making them difficult to resolve.

It has long been argued in scholarly research that powerful third parties make excellent third parties due to their superior economic and military capabilities, yet surprisingly little scholarly attention has been paid to superpower mediation and bias, and how it affects post-conflict levels of bias. While it is expected that powerful mediators, with their leverage and ability to enforce peace agreements with military force will be biased mediators, cases of mediation by superpowers shows this is often not the case. By exploring the phenomenon of post-conflict levels of violence and how it is correlated with great power mediation bias, this study focuses on specific cases of superpower mediation, while allowing for the idiosyncracies of each conflict to be integrated. Guided by previous empirircal findings, this study argues that levels of post-conflict violence will be lower in countries mediated by biased superpowers due to the leverage, influence and credibility they bring to the mediation process, and ability to 'deliver their side' in negotiations. This study will employ a structured focused comparison to provide a systemic comparison to test the hypothesis on three selected conflicts, the 2001/02 India-Pakistan standoff, the Dayton Agreement and Oslo peace process.

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No / This volume contributes to the growing literature on women, conflict and peacebuilding by focusing on the moments after a peace accord, or some other official ending of a conflict, often denoted as `post-conflict¿ or `post-war¿. Such moments often herald great hope for holding to account those who committed grave wrongs during the conflict, and for a better life in the future. For many women, both of these hopes are often very quickly shattered in starkly different ways to the hopes of men. Such periods are often characterized by violence and insecurities, and the official ending of a war often fails to bring freedom from sexual violence for many women. Within such a context, efforts on the part of women, and those made on their behalf, to hold to account those who commit crimes against them, and to access their rights are difficult to make, are often dangerous, and are also often deployed with little effect. Gendered Peace explores international contexts, and a variety of local ones, in which such struggles take place, and evaluates their progress. The volume highlights the surprising success in the development of international legal advances for women, but contrasts this with the actual experience of women in cases from Sierra Leone, Rwanda, South Africa, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, East Timor, Peru, Central America and the Balkans.'